They won't take my rubbish!

Badger_Lady

Hello - as some of you may know, I bought a little house in Newport 6 weeks ago and am enjoying my new life here.

But I can't seem to get my head around rubbish collections!

Maybe I'm just a bit thick, but it was so simple back in England - every Thursday night, I put a black sack or two on the pavement and by lunchtime it's gone.

Now I've got two wheelie bins and two plastic boxes, which I believe are for:
- Green wheelie bin, household waste
- Orange wheelie bin, garden waste
- Plastic box 1, glass, tins, plastic bottles and foil
- Plastic box 2, phone directories

From talking to a neighbour, I've now figured out that the differently coloured wheelie bins are collected on alternate Friday mornings.

But, in the meantime, I've filled both wheelie bins plus 4 black bags with household waste (6 weeks plus all the non-recyclable packaging that comes with moving house)!

I tried leaving the black sacks out for the bin men on Friday, but they didn't take them... I now have another 2 weeks until my next chance.

I'm worried that this build-up of rubbish will start to cause health problems (dare I say - rats - eek!) - how do I get rid of it??? (I can't drive to the tip cos my car's a piddly 2-seater with no boot).

Also, I don't know when the recycling is collected, and I've lost plastic box 1 (left it out one day, wasn't there when I got back).

On another note, I've got a huge pile of cardboard in my kitchen which I don't want to throw away, but doesn't seem to be recyclable...

Help???

Badger
x

pavlovs_dog

i guess you could try contacting the council, just to clarify that what your neighbour told you is correct?

in my part of cardiff we have black bags for non recycleable household waste, green bags for recycling, and white bags for garden waste. the black bags go out every week, the green and white bags alternate. we were helpfully sent a calendar to help us keep track of what is supposed to go out when. im sure if you explain that you are new to the area they will be able to provide something like this

UKJubilee_2

Also might be worth asking the council for a replacement black box...do they have a website? Although a different council when mine went missing I filled out a form and a new one appeared just a few days later.

In my experience they won't take black bags left not in a bin and you will need to take them to the tip yourself.

mollymunchkin

I'd definitely email the Council to see exactly what's collected when. Could you take the excess to the tip until you're on top of the roadside collections?

It's much simpler down here in Pembrokeshire - orange bag for all recycled stuff (except glass), black bag for everything else both collected weekly. We have compost bins for the kitchen waste and have to take glass to the bottle banks ourselves.

PasturesNew

In my bit of cardiff it's bin days once a week - everything goes in there.

Recyclables once a fortnight (same day as bin day) - green sack - in which you put ALL of (yes, together): cardboard, plastic food trays, plastic bottles, tin foil, tin cans, aluminium cans, paper, newspaper.

I fill 1/6th of a green bag every fortnight for recycling.
I fill 1 supermarket carrier bagful (max) every week for the bins. It's a big communal bin for flats, so no black bag required or I'd be collecting for 2-3 months!

I am not a big buyer of anything and they say the less you bring in, the less you can put out!

Debt_Free_Chick

Badger_Lady wrote: »

Hello - as some of you may know, I bought a little house in Newport 6 weeks ago and am enjoying my new life here.

But I can't seem to get my head around rubbish collections!

Is this City of Newport Council? Details of the recycling/waste collection scheme here

Boxes weekly, bins alternate weeks - so one week orange bin, the next week the other bin.

How many in your household? There are two of us, but I struggle to fill a third of my wheelie bin with household rubbish

Badger_Lady

Thanks for all your answers!

Yes, there's only 1 of me, but I've been there 6 weeks without a single collection - the previous owners left the orange bin full of carpet offcuts etc, which started me off, and every month I get a delivery of Innocent Smoothies (prize) which come with huge amounts of polystyrene (a whole black bag in itself when crushed, not recyclable). I've had two of these deliveries since moving in.

I've also had more rubbish than usual as part of the normal "moving in" thing - unwrapping all the items I had out of storage, and some of them were food items that I'd expected to store for only 6 weeks but ended up storing for 5 months (ugh).

I would take it down the tip, but there's no way to fit in my car - I've got a piddly little two-seater with no boot to speak of.

I was brought up to recycle everything, and do - in fact my kitchen cupboard is currently full of flattened cardboard because I didn't know what to do with it, but I certainly wasn't going to throw it away!

Anyway, I got in touch with the council yesterday (thanks DFC), and they've arranged a "special collection" for £6 (which I had to drive round and give them in cash - bless). I have to empty the contents of the wheelie bins into black sacks and leave everything on the pavement for 7am Thursday.

They're also sending me a new plastic box (and a leaflet to explain everything!).


According to their rules, bin men will not normally collect any black sacks, and will not empty your wheelie bin if its lid is open due to overfilling. They will also not empty the wrong-coloured wheelie bin.

I must sound so thick, but this is actually pretty complicated to someone who's never had to deal with it before!

It's also a bit scary to have such strict rules - I really need to get into a tight routine otherwise this could easily happen again.

jockettuk

ring telling them you moved in and you have a few black sacks because of the move.. mabey they can do a one off collection because of moving.. .. when i moved areas i left a few things to be put in the bins my old neighbours put them in there bins and my new neighbours let me fill up there bins as well for a few collections..

Janepig

Cor, I'm glad ours is so straightforward! Black bin bags out once a week. End of. Any recycling is done by us having to take papers/bottles etc... to the tip ourselves, and we also have to take garden waste too, but the bin men will take any number of black bags that we put out. We couldn't have wheelie bins anyway because the bin lorry couldn't get down our back lane, and wouldn't be able to turn around at the end of our street (dead end). Phew!

Jxx

tosca5

Don't they operate a 'special collection' if i have extra rubbish i ring the council up and tell them exactly what i have and arrange a collection.

Debt_Free_Chick

Badger_Lady wrote: »

Anyway, I got in touch with the council yesterday (thanks DFC), and they've arranged a "special collection" for £6

That's a result :T I was going to suggest "a man with a van" from the local paper, but you'd never get anyone as cheap as £6. Very sensible of the Council as it's in no-one's interests to have rubbish lying around.

I must sound so thick, but this is actually pretty complicated to someone who's never had to deal with it before!

It's also a bit scary to have such strict rules - I really need to get into a tight routine otherwise this could easily happen again.

We've just been through it and, yes, you do need to "get yer 'ead around it"

Once you're in a routine, it'll be a doddle :j